A denunciation to the PiS authorities on the head of government television. The author is supposed to be Jaroslaw Olechowski. Andrzej Zoll: this is proof that all public television is at the service of the party

Former chairman of the National Electoral Commission and former president of the Constitutional Tribunal prof. Andrew Zoll. Commenting on Thursday in an interview with “Gazeta Wyborcza” a letter revealed by the media, whose author was supposed to be the already dismissed head of information in government television Jarosław Olechowski. He estimated that “He is a journalist at the service of a particular party.” – And this is proof that not only this journalist is at her service, but all public television _Is at the party’s service. This is neither public nor government television, but party, only party television – assessed the professor.

He added that “this raises very serious concerns.” – I am talking not only about the issue of elections and the fairness of elections, but also about the functioning of a medium that is very important for citizens and is financed from public funds. And it is very heavily financed – recently PLN 3 billion for this year – he noted.

Zoll added that “this is money that was taken by the party and put into its television.” “Therefore, this is an extortion of funds, and serious ones, by the ruling party,” he assessed.

He was asked about the words of “GW” journalist Dominika Wielowieyska, who wrote that “PiS has been accepting donations from TVP in the form of free election spots for years, and accepting donations from companies is against the law and if PKW finds it, it may reduce the party subsidy.”

Zoll said that “this requires legal action and it has to be paid for with subsidies that the party has received from the treasury in a way that is not justifiable.”

In his opinion, the NEC should take care of this and “warn that funds will be drawn”. – Because it is already unjustified to finance the election campaign from public funds – assessed Zoll.

Asked if the party should return all the subsidies it has received so far, he replied: “If we look at the legal side, it is beyond doubt for me. payments that the state treasury gave to party television. But the party should also pay with its property. This property is probably not so small and it would be possible to tell which goods belong to the party.”

On Monday, Onet wrote that the former head of the Television Information Agency (TAI) Jarosław Olechowski, considered a man of the former president of government television Jacek Kurski and “one of the architects of TVP’s brutal propaganda”, felt threatened and he sought political support from the PiS authorities to remove the current president of TVP, Mateusz Matyszkowicz. The portal revealed that a denunciation attributed to Olechowski was to be sent to the PiS authorities.

As Onet wrote, the “trigger of the clash” of Olechowski and Matyszkowicz was supposed to be the visit of the president of government television, probably on April 14, at Plac Powstańców Warszawy, where TVP news programs are created.

“Chairman Matyszkowicz came to a meeting with the editorial office of Wiadomości on Friday and announced – without consulting me or even informing me – that from now on he will run the editorial boards of Wiadomości every Friday. because there are too many ‘hard politics’ and war topics, and not enough news for women and ‘light’ materials,” the author of the letter quoted by Onet was supposed to write.

We also read in it that “president Matyszkowicz has taken actions that will result in a complete decomposition of the management structure in the Television Information Agency”. “In the history of TVP, there has never been a president who personally led editorial boards and publicly told journalists what materials to do. It’s easy to imagine how hostile opposition media will use this. In addition, President Matyszkowicz set himself up as an arbiter between me and the journalists of Wiadomości to which they can turn to intervene if they question my decisions. I am surprised by this turn of events, because there is no conflict between me and President Matyszkowicz “- added the letter, whose authorship is attributed to Olechowski.

“The actions of President Matyszkowicz result directly from a lack of experience in management, they are extremely unprofessional and harmful. They will result in a deep crisis in TVP caused just before the elections. The basic principle has been broken: I get tasks and substantive guidelines, but I choose the tools to achieve the goal. So far, it has worked perfectly and brought results, as evidenced by the latest example poll CBOS, which shows that 51 percent. Poles think so Law and Justice will win the autumn parliamentary elections, and the Social Changes survey, in which Law and Justice has 39 percent. support, increases the advantage over the Civic Coalition to 11 points and records the best result since December 2022. To a large extent, this is the result of the effective work of TAI and efficient narrative and media management of subsequent emerging crises,” the letter reads.

The author of the denunciation was to write that “this is another action of President Matyszkowicz demotivating the TAI team”. “Earlier, the shock was caused by the way Matyszkowicz dismissed the director of TVP Kielce, Przemysław Predygier – immediately after the Easter meeting. Predygier was invited to an occasional meeting, he even brought a bag of gifts that he gave away after dismissal. The president has the right to change each of his subordinates, but he should not publicly humiliate people – especially those who have already been promoted in the times of Good Change, because it is a bad signal for everyone else” – he added.

“The more so that Predygier lost his position after 7 years only because of internal conflicts in PiS in Świętokrzyskie. A signal was sent to journalists – and another one during Matyszkowicz’s presidency – that anyone can be kicked out at any time like a dog. Half a year before the elections is not stupid, it a crime that demotivates people who, especially now, should not have any dilemmas and push for victory,” reads the letter revealed by Onet.

Olechowski denied being the author of the letter. However, Onet wrote that “all the events described in the letter fit only to him”, which, according to the portal’s findings, are “true”.

On Tuesday, the TVP information center announced in a statement on the website that the management board of TVP dismissed Jarosław Olechowski as director of TAI, TVP3 and TVP Warszawa. “Ed. Michał Adamczyk became the new director of TAI” – added.